drawing | red hibiscus

Mar

Back To Barbara

Fortunately, this coming weekend is a busy one, otherwise I might be feeling a little adrift after finishing the short drawing course I’ve been on at Tate Liverpool. It’s been an excellent few weeks and I’d like to think I’ve learnt a lot in that time. Certainly I feel my confidence levels have risen. And after being directed to wander into the gallery and draw, any inhibitions about drawing in front of others has all but vanished.

Asked to draw two artworks together I’d struggled to find what I wanted and was surprised later to discover that the main item was, in fact, another Barbara Hepworth piece called Two Forms (1933). You can’t see it from here, but in the distance was a painting called Large Black Landscape (1946) by Jean Dubuffet.

Odd then, that I’d started and finished the course by drawing pieces by Barbara Hepworth, an artist I’d not known very much about before.

Here’s a weblink for those of you who might be interested – http://barbarahepworth.org.uk

Anyway, here was my first sketch last Saturday morning.

There’s the Dubuffet painting in the bottom left. Pleased though I was with this, I was soon back in the Tate’s studio and set about working up another sketch based on the first one. This time I was using chalk pastels. See what you think.

My challenge now is to keep drawing as I move towards my first attempts at oil painting in a little while.

Mar

Taking A Line For A Walk

Apparently it was the German-Swiss painter, Paul Klee, who said that drawing was essentially like taking a line for a walk.

That’s precisely what I got to do on my drawing course at the Tate yesterday, although at times it felt more like taking my 11 month old Labrador, Henry, for a walk – unpredictable, shall we say?

After the tutorial was over and I was let loose in the gallery, I found this piece – Hanging Disc Toy – by Chinese artist, Li Yuan-chia.

The remit was simply to create a number of quick sketches to bring back to the studio of a range of modern pieces. This was the one I made of Hanging Disc Toy.

Pleased that my tutor and a fellow student both expressed the view that my drawing has freed up somewhat over the last few weeks.

Next up was a sketch from a piece by Robert Adams – Space Construction With A Spiral.

And yes, that’s me working with wire and a pair of pliers as I try to turn the image into a 3 dimensional structure. See what you think.

This is my 3-D piece on a white background and lit by a spotlight. Comments welcome!

Feb

Getting Edgy

As part of my preparation for beginning to paint with oils I’ve embarked on a drawing course at Tate Liverpool. I want to improve my drawing skills and meet new people to talk Art. And to receive some high quality coaching along the way. We’re using a current exhibition at the Tate called Constellations – http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/display/dla-piper-series-constellations

The piece I chose to sketch was this Barbara Hepworth piece. I was drawn to its colour and foolishly thought it would be a relatively simple piece to draw. Here are a few preliminary attempts.

A few more attempts and this was my final piece.

The tutor suggested going back into the gallery to have a go at a different drawing. This time I chose a piece by Sam Gilliam called Simmering.

Here’s a detail from the original.

And this was my sketch.

More from the drawing course next week. In the meantime, any feedback very welcome.

Jan

Everybody Draw.

We all know that it’s just about ready to be the Year of the Horse, however, I want this to be the Year of the Oil Painting if possible.

Work commitments and personal circumstances have meant I’ve devoted a lot of time to drawing in the last year or so, and am just about to embark on a drawing course at one of our national galleries, however, I want to see this as the prelude to starting to have some fun painting again. This was a pen and ink sketch I did last summer.

Meanwhile, we could do worse than take our inspiration from the Chinese and their interest in drawing.

In the stunningly serene setting of the parkland that surrounds the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, I happened to see this older man practising his calligraphy which is a very precise form of drawing if ever I saw one. All the man uses is a brush, some water, and the paving stones as an ephemeral canvas.

Chinese painting and drawing has tended to be very traditional over the centuries, bound up with the culture and class system. I don’t see too much change on the way in the short term, but you never know. Certainly, this junior art class on the shores of West Lake in Hangzhou, has the children’s attention and engagement.

Look more closely at the students though and you’ll see that it’s a fairly rigid copying process they’re being taken through, with a very traditional choice of subject matter.

The course I’ve signed up for sounds a million miles from this – watch this space!

Jan

Graphite & Electric

Finger still damaged so painting and drawing is proving difficult. Thanks to the kindness of my friend (& art tutor) who suggested I use graphite shavings, ripped paper and an electric eraser, I’ve managed this effort. Need to practice more I think but the technique is keeping me on track.